RSV ~ Acts 15 Notes
Acts 15:1-29 | ISB Notes
The Council of Jerusalem (ca. A.D. 49) is a defining moment in Christian history. It was convened to examine the status of Gentile believers crowding into the Church. Some insisted they must be circumcised to complete their Christian initiation (15:5), but the Council rejected the push to add circumcision to the saving grace of Christ (15:10-11). This decisive break with the national religion of Israel makes the Jerusalem Council the theological center of Acts: it shows that the Church is (1) a covenant community distinct from Judaism and (2) a catholic community that embraces all nations.
Acts 15:1 | ISB Notes
you cannot be saved: For centuries, circumcision was the rite of initiation into the covenant family of Abraham (Gen 17:9-14) and the Mosaic religion of Israel (Lev 12:3). It was a badge of Jewish identity that entitled one to share in the blessings of the Old Covenant. The absolute necessity of circumcision in Jewish tradition implied that any male who was uncircumcised was destined for destruction (Jubilees 15:26).
Acts 15:2 | ISB Notes
appointed to go up: The local Church in Antioch looks to the apostolic Church in Jerusalem for doctrinal guidance.
Acts 15:5 | ISB Notes
the law of Moses: Circumcision was the first of many ceremonial precepts mandated by the Torah. Accepting it meant accepting the entire “yoke” (15:10) of the Mosaic covenant with all its animal sacrifices, dietary laws, ritual washings, Sabbath restrictions, etc. (Gal 5:1-3).
Acts 15:7-11 | ISB Notes
Peter quells the debate with a decisive pronouncement: Jews and Gentiles alike are saved, not by the flint knife of circumcision, but by faith in Christ alone. He argues this from the precedent of Acts 10:44-48, where the Spirit first came upon the Gentiles as a sign that God accepts them into the Church just as they are (15:8-9). To insist on circumcision after this event is to fight against the revealed will of God (15:10).
Acts 15:11 | ISB Notes
we believe: Peter speaks as the head and spokesman of the apostolic Church. He formulates a doctrinal judgment about the means of salvation, whereas James takes the floor after him to suggest a pastoral plan for inculturating the gospel in mixed communities where Jewish and Gentile believers live side by side (15:13-21).
Acts 15:13 | ISB Notes
James: A close relative of Jesus (Gal 1:19) who became the leader of the Jerusalem Church after Peter first fled the city and began to travel. See note on Acts 12:17.
Acts 15:14 | ISB Notes
Symeon: The original Semitic name of Peter transliterated into Greek (Heb. Shime’on, Gen 29:33). It is used of him only here and in the Greek text of 2 Pet 1:1.
Acts 15:16-18 | ISB Notes
James sees confirmation of Gentile conversions in the Greek OT.
• The opening line of his extended quotation alludes to Jer 12:15; the bulk of it comes from Amos 9:11-12; and the final line alludes to Is 45:21. They all envision Yahweh gathering the Gentiles into his covenant family in the messianic age. See essay: Kingdom Restoration.
Acts 15:20 | ISB Notes
write to them: James sets forth a pastoral initiative to promote fellowship and preempt foreseeable friction between Jewish and Gentile believers coming together in the Church. The result is an apostolic letter from Jerusalem to the Churches in Syria and Cilicia that requires Gentile converts to observe a minimal code of religious purity— abstinence from idol foods, sexual immorality, and the consumption of blood in meat or by itself (15:23-29). The Jews abhorred these practices as cultural expressions of idolatry. James is saying that even though the Gentiles are exempt from the ritual observances of Judaism (circumcision), they are still expected to break away from the ritual observances of paganism. Allusions to this decree appear in 1 Cor 8-10, 1 Thess 4:3, and Rev 2:14, 20.
See essay: Paul, Idol Food, and the Jerusalem Council at 1 Cor 8.
• The decree is shaped by the laws of Lev 17-18 that govern the conduct of Gentile sojourners living in the company of Israel. They were forbidden to eat meat consecrated to idols instead of to Yahweh (Lev 17:7-9), to consume blood (Lev 17:10-12), to eat meat not properly drained of blood (Lev 17:13-14), and to engage in various forms of sexual immorality, such as incest, adultery, homosexuality, and bestiality (Lev 18:6-23). Though several such laws are enjoined on the foreigner in the Torah, only these four prohibitions are applied equally to Israelites and sojourners and threaten to cut violators off from the covenant.
• According to the Council of Florence in 1442, the apostolic decree was only a temporary measure to facilitate unity among Jews and Gentiles in the early Church. The binding force of its food restrictions was relaxed once the ethnic circumstances that made them necessary passed away.
Acts 15:22 | ISB Notes
Judas … Silas: The Jerusalem delegation sent to deliver the Apostolic Decree to the Church of Antioch (15:30). Silas is also known as “Silvanus” (2 Cor 1:19) and became a trusted member of Paul’s missionary team (15:40).
Acts 15:28 | ISB Notes
the Holy Spirit: The deliberations and decisions of the Council were guided by the hand of God. This is precisely what Jesus promised to do for the ordained leadership of the Church through the Spirit. .
Acts 15:32 | ISB Notes
prophets: That is, both men had the spiritual gift of exhortation. See note on Acts 13:1.
Acts 15:36-18 | ISB Notes
Paul’s second missionary journey from A.D. 50 to 52.
Acts 15:39 | ISB Notes
a sharp contention: Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways after a dispute about John Mark, who abandoned their earlier mission (13:13). Barnabas decides to join his cousin Mark (Col 4:10) and return to his native island of Cyprus (4:36), while Paul teams up with Silas and then Timothy (16:1) to revisit the converts of Syria and Asia Minor (15:40-41).